In the old time and space, Kim Koo established the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai, China, as the restoration agency of South Korea. However, now is not the time to set up such an organization, first, Kim Chang-so is still too young, his reputation is not obvious, his appeal is not enough, and his own ability is also insufficient; second, the East China government is about to negotiate with Japan, and there is no need to make extraneous complications at this time. Therefore, at present, Kim Chang-so and others are still mainly studying in Jindao.

At this time, Prince Heinrich, the head of the German military observation group, came to visit Qin Zheng. Although the prince has the title of head of the military observation group, he actually doesn't care about anything, and he doesn't go there after coming to Qingdao, but he observes the situation of the East China government in Qingdao, and holds meetings and exchanges with the officials of the East China government, because Heinrich has come to Qingdao several times, and many officials of the East China government have established good personal relations, and Qin Zheng has a good relationship, and Prince Heinrich also has a lot of influence in Germany, so Heinrich's visit, Qin Zheng will definitely receive it.

Because the two of them are very familiar with each other, there is not much politeness after they meet, and after the guests and hosts are seated, Qin Zheng said: "Your Excellency the Prince is looking for me, is there anything wrong?"

Heinrich nodded and said, "Speaker Qin, I just received news from Germany that the British and French governments have made a decision, if the negotiations in Portsmouth are not successful this time, the two countries will jointly send troops to intervene in this battlefield with force." In line with the friendly relations between Germany and the East China Government, the Chinese Government has specially entrusted me to convey this news orally to the East China Government. ”

Qin Zheng couldn't help but be taken aback when he heard this, although before the East China government entered the war, he also expected that Britain and France might enter the war after the defeat of Japan and Russia, and made some preventive preparations, but Qin Zheng always believed that the possibility of Britain and France directly participating in the war was not large, after all, the two countries were too far away from Asia, and now that Germany was rising in Europe, it would be difficult for Britain and France to withdraw from Europe and launch a large-scale war in Asia.

However, the situation collected by the German side brought by Heinrich was completely different from Qin Zheng's expectations. Of course, after all, Qin Zheng has participated in a large number of international political activities in the past few years, and he immediately thought about how true the information provided by Germany was? After all, it was impossible for Germany to provide such important information to the East China government for no reason.

So Qin Zheng pondered for a while before he said: "Your Excellency, thank you for the important information provided to me by the German government, but there is one thing I don't understand, judging from the current situation, Japan and Russia obviously hope that Britain and France can directly intervene in this war, so if Britain and France take the breakdown of negotiations as a prerequisite for them to jointly send troops to intervene in the Far East War, then Japan, Could Russia not have deliberately put forward conditions in the negotiations that were unacceptable to us, leading to the breakdown of the negotiations and drawing Britain and France into the war? Britain and France are both veterans of international politics and will not make such a low-level mistake. ”

Heinrich nodded and said: "Mr. Speaker, what you said is not wrong, of course Britain and France will not make such a low-level mistake, they have requirements for this Portsmouth negotiations, that is, to use the current actual occupation as the basis for negotiations, prohibit Japan and Russia from putting forward excessive conditions in the negotiations, but support Japan and Russia for refusing to pay war reparations." In other words, the breakdown of negotiations over the issue of war reparations was a prerequisite for Britain and France to jointly send troops to intervene in the Far East war. ”

Qin Zheng listened, and then he understood a little, it seems that Britain and France do not want the East China government to receive compensation, but basically recognize that the East China government occupies the three northeastern provinces and the Vladivostok region.

In fact, for Britain and France, the ideal outcome of the negotiations would be to return to the situation before the Russo-Japanese War began, and Russia would still be able to retain Vladivostok and Shuangchengzi, but the three northeastern provinces would be handed over to the Qing government, so that there would be no winners in this war, and the East China government, Japan, and Russia would be weakened. However, such an outcome will certainly not be accepted by the East China government, and the negotiations can only break down. Although Britain and France were ready to intervene in the war in the Far East, it was better not to intervene or not to intervene, after all, the two countries were also facing considerable pressure in Europe, and since the Monaco crisis was not yet over, the countries concerned had decided to hold a meeting in Algeciras, Spain, in June-July 1906 to negotiate a solution to the Monaco question. Britain and France had already done a great deal of work for this conference, but if they were to intervene in the war in the Far East, they would have to make the necessary concessions to Germany at the Algeciras Conference.

Britain and France are both veterans of international politics, and of course they understand that the conditions proposed must be within the acceptable range of the other side, or the other side refuses, and there will be greater losses. At present, only the indemnity has such a condition. After all, if the East China government does not want to pay reparations, although it will take several years to repay the loan, it will also be of great benefit to obtain the three northeastern provinces and the Vladivostok region, and once Britain and France really join forces to intervene in the war, the outcome is unpredictable and the risk is too great.

However, if the East China government can not obtain reparations, it will inevitably delay the development of time, in the old time and space, although Japan won the Russo-Japanese War, and obtained a lot of geopolitical benefits, but failed to get a penny of indemnity from Russia, which led to the Russo-Japanese War, Japan has been in economic recession, at the end of 1907 when the United States Great White Fleet sailed around the world, deterring Japan, Japan could only adopt a peaceful attitude to meet the Great White Fleet, until the First World War, Japan relied on a large number of Allied rules to completely restore the economy。

Germany had its own intelligence officers stationed in various European countries, and Britain and France did not deliberately conceal their joint involvement in the Far East war, so German intelligence officers obtained this information through various channels. After receiving this information, the German government thought that this information would be quite useful to itself, because the German government had now decided to establish an alliance with the East China government similar to the [Japan-British Alliance], so as to set up a chess piece in the Far East to contain Russia and defuse the unfavorable situation of Germany being attacked on both sides. After all, the East China government can deal with Russia independently and does not need the help of Germany, and even if the East China government agrees to form an alliance with Germany, it will inevitably be a favorable party to the treaty.

However, if Germany provides this information to the East China Government, it can not only sell the East China Government a favor, but also create a situation for the East China Government in which Britain and France will join hands to suppress the East China Government, and the East China Government can only form an alliance with Germany if it wants to get rid of this unfavorable situation, so that the East China Government will have a demand for Germany, and Germany can also take the opportunity to raise the asking price and sign an alliance treaty that is relatively favorable to Germany.

In addition, Germany also did not want the East China government to receive reparations from Japan and Russia, and this was not to maintain the balance in the Far East, because after all, the Far East had nothing to do with Germany, and it was not Germany's business whether it was balanced or not. Instead, half of the East China government's foreign debt is borrowed from Germany, and without reparations, the East China government's ability to repay its debts will be greatly reduced, and Germany can take the opportunity to provide more loans to the East China government and use the debt to control the East China government. Therefore, the German government asked Prince Heinrich to provide this information to the East China government.

Seeing that Qin Zheng was silent in thought, Heinrich said again: "According to our intelligence, Britain and France are absolutely serious, once they really send troops to intervene, the two countries will jointly dispatch at least more than 20 battleships." ”

Qin Zheng nodded and said with a smile: "20 battleships, it seems that Britain and France are really ready to spend blood, I don't think that country can send 20 battleships at a time except for Britain itself! I can't imagine that Britain and France can look up to us so much." ”

At this time, the British Navy was implementing the two great standards, that is, the number of battleships of one country exceeded the number of battleships of the second and third countries combined, so not to mention 20 battleships, even 40 battleships, Britain could also take it. And apart from Britain, it is true that no country at this time could dispatch 20 battleships at a time.

And Qin Zheng's attitude made Heinrich also have some meaning, because he thought that when he said that Britain and France would dispatch 20 battleships, Qin Zheng would have some surprised reactions, but Qin Zheng's face did not change, but he made fun of the number of battleships, and he didn't know whether he was confident or pretending to be calm. However, what should be said still has to be said, so Heinrich said: "Speaker Qin, how to negotiate this time is a matter for the East China government, and Germany will not interfere, but as a friend, I personally have some immature personal opinions for your reference." ”

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "We are all old friends, if Your Excellency Prince has anything to say, just say it directly." ”

Heinrich said: "I think the East China government should carefully consider the issue of reparations, I know that the East China government has paid a lot of price for this war, so I hope to get reparations to repay the debts borrowed, but even if there is no reparations, the East China government has also gained a lot of benefits from this war, and the debt can be paid off in 4 or 5 years at most, there is no need to take risks." We in Germany attach great importance to our friendship with the East China Government, and if the East China Government is short of funds, we in Germany are willing to provide the East China Government with a loan with a minimum interest rate to help the East China Government tide over this difficulty. ”

Qin Zheng nodded and said, "On behalf of the East China Government, I would like to express my gratitude to the German Government and His Excellency the Prince for their concern and friendship, and we will always remember it, and His Excellency the Prince's suggestion will also be seriously considered and adopted according to our situation." If we have a need for a loan, we will definitely raise it with the German government. ”

Seeing that the task had been completed, Prince Heinrich also got up and took his leave.